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The ferocity we show our foes must be tempered by the lesson we hope to teach.

Frank Herbert

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Frank Herbert
Age: 65 †
Born: 1920
Born: October 8
Died: 1986
Died: February 11
Author
Journalist
Novelist
Photographer
Science Fiction Writer
Writer
Tacoma
Washington
Frank Patrick Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert
Franklin Herbert
Franklin Patrick Herbert
Jr.
Must
Tempered
Foe
Lesson
Lessons
Teach
Show
Hope
Ferocity
Shows
Foes

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The difference between sentiment and being sentimental is the following: Sentiment is when a driver swerves out of the way to avoid hitting a rabbit on the road. Being sentimental is when the same driver, when swerving away from the rabbit, hits a pedestrian.
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Reason is the first victim of strong emotion.
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It was mostly sweet, he whispered, and you were the sweetest of all.
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A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation
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Journalism is the entertainment business.
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Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, I am not the kind of person I want to be. It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
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What is important for a leader is that which makes him a leader. It is the needs of his people.
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Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock.
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Remember: Bureaucracy elevates conformity ... Make that elevates 'fatal stupidity' to the status of religion.
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Beyond a critical point within a finite space, freedom diminishes as numbers increase. This is as true of humans as it is of gas molecules in a sealed flask. The human question is not how many can possibly survive within the system, but what kind of existence is possible for those who so survive.
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A voice hissed: He sheds tears! It was taken around the ring Usal gives moisture to the dead! He felt fingers touch his damp cheek, heard the awed whispers.
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Demagogues are so easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervour and god-fearing sincerity. Sincerity with nothing behind it takes so much practice. The practice can always be detected. Repetition. Great attempts to keep your attention on words.
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No more terrible disaster could befall your people than for them to fall into the hands of a Hero.
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Peace for any prolonged period of time is impossible. Humans have a natural thirst for chaos and war is the most readily available form of chaos.
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Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.
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Constitutions become the ultimate tyranny, Paul said. They’re organized power on such a scale as to be overwhelming. The constitution is social power mobilized and it has no conscience. It can crush the highest and the lowest, removing all dignity and individuality. It has an unstable balance point and no limitations.
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Caution is the path to mediocrity.
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The basic lesson of our relativistic universe is that things change. Any power must always meet a greater power.
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The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we do to each other.
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Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well.
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